About Eleanor Jones

Eleanor Parke was born 2 Jan 1683 in Ballredmon, County Carlow, Ireland, and died 1 Nov 1727 in Pennsylvania.

Parents: Robert Parke (b. 1658) and Margery Parke (b. 1660)

Married:

Elinor Parke of Rashbrush was married on 14 April 1705 [1705 - 4 - 14 (Quaker Style dating)] in Kilconnor Meeting, County Carlow, Ireland to James Lindley (1681-1726), Cutler, son of James & Alice Lindley. (cite1)

After James died in 1726, Elinore married Henry Jones at New Garden MM Chester Co., PA.

Notes

Quaker Roots

Page 49 of Goodbody's book lists the Wicklow Monthly Meeting documents at the Society of Friends Historical Library in Dublin and one of the documents is "Record of Births, Deaths and Marriages 1677 - 1800" [W.5] (The spline of the book was marked "No. 1, Wicklow Births, Marriages, Deaths"). The paragraphs below were copied from this book in May during a trip to Ireland.

The record of James Lindly and Elinor Park was on page 190:

"James Lindly son of James & Ealce (this is the way Alice' appeared to me to be spelled in the document) Lindly was born at Ballinaclash in Co. Wicklow 16th day of 4th mo 1681. Has took to wife Elinor Parke Daughter of Robert & Marjorie Parke, who was born at Ballyredman in the Co. of Carlow about the year 1684, the 14 day of the 4th month 1705 among friends as may appear by this certificate recorded in the County book with issue as follows:".

It listed only Thomas and Rachel as children.

We took several days to tour the areas in which the Parkes and Lindleys lived. In Co. Wicklow, the location of the Penrose house in Ballykean (Ballycane) where the Quaker meeting was held, and locations listed for Lindley residences at Ballinaclash, Ballinacarrig (Ballynacargie?), Timullin, and Cronesallagh. The residences are all within 5 miles of each other.

In Co. Carlow, we located Ballyredmond (Ballyredman) where Elinor Parke was born, Kilconnor where James and Elinor were married, and residences at Rathrush and Ballybromell. We also stopped at Ballytore where there had been a large Quaker settlement, school and meeting house. Several of the other Parke children were married there. The meeting house is still used by the Friends and the lower floor is a branch of the county library with a small Quaker museum.

These townlands can be located on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, Discovery Series, 1:50 000, maps number 61 and 62. Co. Carlow and Wicklow are very pretty. The country looks like the Midwest with green rolling hills. Most of it was in grass with lots of sheep. It would still be a nice place to live.

County Carlow

Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland. In the north, the broad valleys of the rivers Barrow and Slaney are famed for their fertility and are intensively farmed. In the south, Mount Leinster and the Blackstairs form a natural imposing border with Wexford.

Before the Norman invasion in the twelfth century, Carlow formed the northernmost part of the Gaelic kingdom of Uí Cinnseallaigh, which also took in parts of the neighbouring counties of Wicklow and Wexford. The county was part of the lands of Dermot MacMurrough, the Leinster king who formed the first alliance with the Normans and facilitated their invasion in the twelfth century. Norman castles still stand at Carlow town, Leighlin and Tullow. In the 1798 rebellion, Carlow was the scene of some of the most bloody fighting.

In the Famine and the subsequent emigration, Carlow was badly affected; its population shrank from 86,000 in 1841 to 41,000 in 1966, a drop of 52%. Today the population stands at around 45,000.

In Ireland, as we have already seen, the Quakers were not evenly dispersed throughout the country, but rather thickly settled into a few areas. The initial concentrations can be described as falling into four distinct groups: the early Ulster Monthly Meetings of Grange, Ballyhagen ... the richer agricultural areas of central Leinster ... the isolated small urban centers like Wicklow and Carlow; and the major coastal trading cities (Dublin ...)